Macaroon making

last night, my friend Sally and I attended a baking course with the Kent Cookery School at The Secret Garden in Ashford, to learn how to make macaroon’s! I have been to The Secret Garden a few times for tea and cake and have always enviously peered through the windows into the kitchen classroom, think Great British bake off / Mary Berry’s kitchen, heaven!!! So I was very excited to actually be taking part in a class.

I have never attempted to make macaroon’s before and after my last baking challenge of the fondant fancies I was wary to give these ago, as I have heard many baking horror stories from friends..... It turns out there are a few handy tips that will ensure you get the perfect macaroons.... So here goes

Handy tips (we learnt from our egg lecture)

medium egg should weigh between 53-63g

large egg shoud weigh between 63-73g

if freshly laid, do not use the eggs till they are about 7 days old for baking purposes (fresh eggs have too much carbon dioxide in them)

Eggs should NOT be kept in the fridge, store them in a cool dark place.

Recipe

Ingedients

Macaroon paste :

185g icing sugar

185g ground almonds

2 medium egg whites

Food colouring

Italian Meringue

50ml water

185g caster sugar

2 medium egg whites

(sugar thermometer)

Method

1 – Preheat oven to 180 degrees, place baking tray in the oven

2 - cut greaseproof paper to exact size of baking tray

3 – mix icing sugar, ground almonds and 2 x egg whites until a smooth paste, add food colouring for desired shade

4 – whisk 2 medium egg whites till they form firm peaks, meanwhile soft boil caster sugar and water in a saucepan till it reaches 120 degrees exactly (use a jam or sugar thermometer for this)

5 – whilst whisking the egg whites slowly pour the hot sugar syrup into the bowl and then whisk for 2 minutes

6 – carefully add meringue mixture to the almond paste, cutting and stirring, minimum amount of work possible

7 – fill piping bag with the macaroon mixture and pipe into circles  onto the greasproof paper (around 3cm diameter each 50 pence piece size)

8 – Carefully slide greaseproof paper onto the hot baking tray and cook in the oven for 8 minutes.

9 – allow to cool and then fill with your preferred fillings (cream, chocolate, lemon curd, jam...)